The Dictator

Laughter to me is the secret of a happy life, if everyone would just laugh more the world would be a better place. There are so many ways we can find that laughter, in books, on TV, and of course the movies. When it comes to movies there are so many choices when it comes to comedy, I mean who is to say what is funny and what is not.

       Sasha Baron Cohen wants to tell you what is funny with his newest character General Aladeen or “The Dictator”. In a country in North Africa, Aladeen has everything he wants and needs. He can buy anything he wants and he has the world’s attention because of what he is trying to build. After Aladeen is threatened with force, he agrees to travel to the United States to give a speech at the U.N. Once in the United States, Aladeen is kidnapped and robbed of his beard, which makes him unrecognizable to everyone. He is rescued by a girl named Zoey (Anna Farris) and is given a job at an earth friendly grocery store. While he is selling earth friendly items, he is also trying to get back and be the evil Dictator he was born to be. All he has to do is replace his double, foil his uncle’s plot to sell his country’s mass oil reserves and free his people from Aladeen’s rule.

   Sasha Baron Cohen’s act might be wearing a little thin these days. When he released “Borat” in 2006 he was at the top of his game, but by the time “Bruno” was released in 2009 you could already see the decline. It’s like hearing a joke for the first time and you are on the floor laughing, but by the second and third time the joke just isn’t funny anymore. That is like watching a Sasha Baron Cohen movie; his characters are so much the same that it just isn’t funny anymore. Sure you can find a few moments that will make you chuckle, but when you go to a comedy don’t you want to do more than just chuckle a few times? I think Cohen should take some time off from releasing movies like this and concentrate on being an actor, something he is good at. If you are in the mood for a Sasha Baron Cohen film, re watch “Borat”, because after that everything went downhill for him, with “The Dictator” clearly being the bottom.

 Brian Taylor